Blizzard says Overwatch loot box odds have not changed

More than 100 new items have been added to the base box, and some users believe that has affected the drop rates.

Blizzard added more than 100 new cosmetic items to Overwatch's base loot box yesterday, many of which you can get a closer look at here. In the eyes of some users, however, the increase in available items was accompanied by a decrease in the odds of actually getting any of the good stuff. But Blizzard says that's simply not the case.

That's pretty hard to misinterpret, but Blizzard expanded on the topic a little further in a follow-up tweet. "Please keep in mind that unlike during events you're not guaranteed to get a new item in every box," it wrote. "These items went into the pool of all available items in the base Loot Box."

Overwatch loot boxes contain a randomized series of items—skins, sprays, emotes, and all that—in Common, Rare, Epic, and Legendary qualities. The higher the quality, the less likely it is to drop, but the specifics were a mystery until last year, when Blizzard revealed the drop rates to remain in compliance with Chinese law. Every loot box contains at least one Rare item, but higher grades are far less likely to appear: Epics drop at an average rate of once in every 5.5 loot boxes, while Legendaries turn up once in every 13.5 boxes.